Beetles and Demons
by Basement Bride
Summary: Mad, but strangely makes some sort of sense. Read and please review


"Oh great!" thought Xander as he walked into his basement. Someone had smashed his window in and it was cold and damp enough down there without the weather blowing in twenty four hours a day.  
Xander walked over to the window and looked outside. There was no one there.

As Xander turned from the window he felt someone grabb hold of his arm and before he knew it there was a knife being held against his neck.

"O, your gonna die!" said the unfamiliar voice of a man.

He pushed the knife a few milimeters into Xander's throat. It was just enough to break the skin, and a small trickle of blood rolled down Xander's neck. You could see from his face that he was terrified, but he didn't let his fear influence his tone of voice.

"I'm willing to let this go if you are." said Xander.

"Not a word!" commanded his would be murderer.

Xander considered this a while, trying to work out what the best course of action would be.

As he was thinking about this, Xander became aware that someone else was in the room. Probably Buffy, or Willow maybe, or even a member of his family.

"Stand where you are and don't make a sound." Xander said sternly to his friend.

"I am supposed to be threatening you!"shouted the man as he thrust the knife even further into Xander's throat.

"I wasn't talking to you, and if you dig that knife anymore into my throat I'll be dead!" warned Xander.

"That is exactly what I want to do!"argued the man.

"Why do you want to kill me?" asked Xander.

"I don't know," replied the man, "I just do."

"Do you hate and despise me?" asked Xander.

"No" the man replied.

"Does twenty years in jail appeal to you in any way?"asked Xander.

"No."

"How about the thrill of the chase?" asked Xander, "It will be exciting, being hunted down by every policeman in the state."

"Are you kidding?" asked the man, "I don't want to spend the remainder of my life on the run."

"Then is it really worth killing me?"asked Xander.

"I have to now." answered the man.

"Why?" asked Xander, "I've already said I'm willing to forget this incident."

"You've got a witness now, so you'll both have to die." was the answer.

"Forget this I'm leaving!" said the familiar voice of Spike.

"You do and I'll kill your friend!" threatened the man.

"Go ahead!He's no friend of mine." said Spike, "I'd have killed him myself ages ago if I could! My life would be a lot happier without him."

And with that Spike left.

"You see!" said Xander, "He hates me! He's not going to tell the cops that you tried to kill me. It'll be fine!"

"And I have your promise that you won't press charges?" asked the man.

"You have my word." replied Xander.

With that the knife dropped to the floor and the man ran out of the room and out of the house.  
Xander was quite dazed by the whole experiance. But still managed to think clearly enough to realise that this probably had some sort of supernatural connection, considering that every other time he'd almost died some sort of demon or witch had been at the bottom of it. Because of this Xander decided that he should go to Giles'.

When xander got to Giles Spike was already there.

"Oh so he decided not to kill you then?" asked Spike.

"Who tried to kill who?" asked Giles.

"I don't know who he was," replied Xander, "but he'd decided he was going to cut my throat."

"Why didn't he?"asked Spike.

"I talked him out of it." replied Xander, "He had no real reason for killing me."

"How about, the fact you're the most annoying being on the face of the bloody planet?" asked Spike.

Xander just smiled sarcastically at Spike and waited to see what Giles suggested.

"Have you called the police?" asked Giles.

"No," replied Xander, "I promised him I wouldn't."

"You should." was all that Giles said.

"It was obvious that this guy wasn't himself," argued Xander, "I was thinking there might be some sort of demon, witchy connection?"

"You have no evidence of that." replied Giles, "and if he is a human homicidal maniac, it isn't a good thing to let him roam around free, and Buffy can't do anything. It's upto the police to sort this matter."

"I agree with Xander," said Spike, "If there wasn't magic involved somewhere he surely would have killed him!"

"Oh please stop it with the jokes at my expense." pleaded Xander, "It's getting right up my nose."

"You'd better get your neck seen to aswell." suggested Giles, "It looks quite deep."

Xander disagreed with Giles totally and utterly, but he knew he wasn't going to get anywhere by arguing, so he left.

On his way home he decided that it would in fact be a good idea to do something about his neck, as his shirt was becoming more and more red, but he had no intension to go to the doctors. When he got home he put a piece of lint over the gash and thought nothing else of it.

Meanwhile Spike was getting frustrated. He'd tore his coat and everyone he went to for a sewing kit either didn't have one or was in the process of talking someone out of killing him. Normally Spike would just go out and nabb a similar coat from a passer by and then kill them afterwards, but now that wasn't an option. He would have stolen a coat, but the cops where looking for him, and if they caught him there was no way they'd let him go in the middle of the night. Worst come to the worst he would have gone out and bought a new coat, but there he had two problems. One: the shops weren't open at this time anyway, and two: he'd just spend the last of his cash on blood, fags and a bottle of whisky and he couldn't go mugging people for the same reason he couldn't go out and nick a coat. Sewing it up again was his only option. Not that he really knew how to sew at all, let alone leather. Why on earth didn't anyone have a sewing kit? What do people do nowadays when there clothing is torn. Selotape it gave Spike an idea! But after thinking about it a while he decided it wasn't a good one. It probably wouldn't look very good.

Buffy was worried. She'd never got an A+ in psycology before. Especially for such a piece of junk. It wasn't even about decision making! Buffy was sure that she'd gone around the whole subject without actually saying anything about it. She should have got an F, a D maybe but never in a million years an A+. It should be an F. The teacher must have made a mistake. That's it! Probably thought it ws someone elses work. But look at the unreadable handwriting! There's no mistaking that without not actually looking at it! THAT WAS IT! He didn't even bother to look at it! Now that wasn't fair! Her work was at least worthy to read, even if he did laugh at it afterwards. Buffy had spent all her spare time on that essay, that is the spare time after killing demons, chatting to friends and generally laying round doing nothing. Sir owed it to her to read it! She wasn't going to get fobbed off with an . . . . . . A+. What was she thinking? This is great! All right it's not what the work actually deserves, but it's a nice mark to bragg about! Infact . . . . . .

"Hey Willow," called Buffy across the cafeteria, "I've got an A+!"

"Well done!" said Willow, "So did I! But I'm sure that you deserved yours more than mine!"

"Mine was a hunk of junk, that didn't even follow the heading."said Buffy, "You always deserve an A+."

"If you're comparing surprising marks," said the boy who stood next to Buffy, "I got a car."

"What?" asked Buffy, not sure if she heard him correctly.

"Look." said the boy, as he showed her his paper. Sure enough there was a doodle of a car at the bottom the page.

"This is strange." said Buffy.

Xander spent all afternoon trying to fix a board over the broken window, but he never was any good at DIY and he hadn't slept all the previous night. His neck had been hurting too much. The pain had died down now though, and by the time Xander had actually got the board to stay put, it was gone twelve, and Xander was shattered.

As he lay in bed trying to sleep, he kept thinking about what Giles had said to him. It started to bother him. If there wasn't anything supernatural involved, then why did that guy want to kill him. He had said that he didn't hate him, but was he just being nice? Being nice? This guy was going to kill him! Why on earth should he be nice? But then why did he want to kill Xander? Maybe he knew something. Perhaps he decided it would be better for Xander to die than to go through something that is yet unknown. Maybe not. Maybe someone paid him. Yes, he's a hitman! Not a very good one though. AND that leaves Xander with the problem of who is it that actually does wants to kill him.  
The thought of the incident made his neck tingle. It was almost as if the knife was still there, but without the pain. Xander knew this was probably due to his lack of sleep, but he couldn't stop being aware of it. There was nothing he could do.  
Well there goes another night of sleep.

By morning Xanders head was fit to burst. He lay on his bed staring at the ceiling as if it held all the answers.  
*It can't be that. Then why did that guy try to kill me? . . . . . . . I could do with some breakfast about now . . . . . . boy is that ceiling boring . . . . . . . I'm going to do something about that . .*  
Ok, so his trail of concerntration was wondering a bit, but he'd had a pretty good night of thinking otherwise.

Spike was pacing around his crypt, his coat in hand. He threw it to the floor and jumped up and down on it several times and roared with rage. He then sat on a tomb and stared at the coat, as if he was willing it to mend itself. He was not a happy puppy.

Buffy woke up with a strong desire to paint a sun on the window so it would be a nice day. So she got some paints and started to work. She had just got the sun the right shade of green when Willow woke up.  
"What is that?" asked Willow.

"The sun stupid."replied Buffy.

"I thought the sun was round."said Willow.

"I thought a heart looked nicer." explained Buffy.

"WELL IT DOESN'T!" screamed Willow and she threw the chair that was usually under the desk straight through the window, destroying all Buffy's hard work.

"Now its gonna rain!" sulked Buffy, "I'm going to tell Giles on you!"

"You want rain!" shouted Willow, "I'll give you rain!"  
Willow chanted something in latin and pointed at Buffy. Suddenly rain fell from nowhere just above Buffy. Buffy tried to move out of the way, but the rain just followed her.

"Now I'm all wet!" moaned Buffy.

"So," replied Willow, "what's new?"

Buffy sighed and marched straight out of the room, in her PJs.  
Willow was enraged. Even more so than Spike usually was. She broke anything breakable, tore anything tearable and hit anything . . . . hitable. Then she took Buffy's paints and threw thwm all over the room. She then got dressed and left.

There was a knock at the door. Giles opened it to see a dripping wet Buffy in a terrible downpour and her PJs.  
"What's up?"he asked.

"Willow made it rain." answered Buffy as she walked in.

"How?" he asked.

"She broke the window." said Buffy.

Giles was rather confused at this answer. He then noticed that the rain was no longer outside, but inside.  
"Oh, your raining all over the carpet!" he exclaimed.

"Make it stop." pleaded Buffy.

After consulting the books, Giles found a suitable incantation and stopped the rain.  
"I'm cold." stated Buffy.

"I'm not surprised." answered Giles, looking at the soaking wet figure shivering in her did look rather miserable. "Would you like a cup of tea?" asked Giles.

"I'd rather have a cup of Q." replied Buffy.

Giles laughed,"Very funny."he said.

It wasn't really, but he decided to humour her anyway.  
When Giles handed Buffy the cup of steaming liquid he was rather surprised when Buffy asked him where the letters were.  
"What letters?" he asked.

"The Ts."explained Buffy.

"Are you feeling all right?" he asked.

"I'm feeling a hot cup." replied Buffy.

"I see." replied Giles. Then he remembered Buffy saying Willow made it rain. "Why did Willow make it rain?" he asked,

"She was angry with me." relied Buffy.

"What did you do?" asked Giles accusingly,

"I painted the sun on the window so it would be sunny." replied Buffy.

Unusual. Why was Buffy acting this way? And surely Willow wouldn't get worked up over a painted window. Willow would raise her voice if she found out that someone had stolen her bag. And then yesterday, when Spike asked for a needle and thread. Spike doesn't do needle work! It was then when it occured to him. If Xander was right, and something had happend to the man who tried to kill him the same thing could have happend to Buffy, Willow and Spike. Good Heavens! Xander was right!  
After pondering a while, Giles called Xander.

Xander was up a ladder, painting the ceiling when Giles phoned. He put the can of red paint in his mouth and reached for the phone. If it had been any further away he would have fallen over.  
"Memmo?" said Xander.

"Hello?" said Giles.

"Moo mis mit?"asked Xander.

"It's Giles. Why are you talking like that?"

"mI'm ma man hmmf maint mim my mouf."replied Xander.

"Why?" asked Giles.

"mI'm mainting M meimin."replied Xander.

Giles was begining to wonder if this thing was affecting Xander too, but then he realised that this was the kind of thing that Xander would normally do.

"I think you'd better come over." said Giles.

"My?"asked Xander.

"Let's just say you were right."

"My mar might mamout mot?" asked Xander.

"About why that man tried to kill you the other night."replied Giles.

"I was right!" exclaimed Xander, letting the paint can fall from his mouth, "Oh great!" he said sarcastically.

"I thought you'd be happy." said Giles.

"Oh, I am about that." said Xander, "It's just I've dropped the paint all over the floor . . ." explained Xander "and my shoes" he added.

"Just get around here as soon as possible." said Giles and he put down the phone.

Xander wasn't half taking his time. It had been an hour since Giles had called him. Finally Xander came into the house.  
"Why are you in you pyjamas at three in the afternoon?" Xander asked Buffy.

"There's a cat outside." replied Buffy.

"Errrr. . . . Right." said Xander nodding his head.

"She's been like that all day," said Giles, "and apparently Willow's been throwing a tantrum. I think some sort of insanity demon is going around."

"That would explain the guy with trousers on his head who was driving the bus." exclaimed Xander.

"And you got on it?" asked Giles.

"Yes," replied Xander, "The one before him was driving with his feet."

"I see." replied Giles, "What took you so long?"

"I had to clean the paint of the carpet." replied Xander.

"I've done some reasearch," started Giles, " and I believe that we are dealing with a kind of mind control demon, more precisely one that feeds off insanity. According to my books, these demons enter the mind of its victim and amplifies any insane thoughts that person has. Eventually the insanity swallow the human and they go totally mad."

"Then how come it hasn't affected me?" asked Xander.

"It appears that this demon must cause the insane thoughts to become actions, or it cannot feed off them. You have a tendancy to do or say whatever you're thinking and thereby using your resource of insanity, without the demon."

"Are you saying I'm mad?" asked Xander.

"Occasionly." said Giles eventually.

"So why hasn't it got you?" aske Xander.

"I have no idea why it hasn't affected me." replied Giles, "Maybe it just hasn't got around to me yet, or perhaps I don't have any insane thoughts."

"Or you're mad too." added Xander.

"Yes," agreed Giles, "although it is unlikely."

"So what do we do?" asked Xander.

"We have to find the source." answered Giles," although these demons have no physical form, they do need an inaminate object to retreat to and rest. If it does not rest it will die."

"So what is this object?" asked Xander.

"Some sort of sphere." replied Giles, "I assume it looks mystical."

"So where do we look?" asked Xander.

But Giles wasn't listening. His hands were bothering him. They'd started to hurt. He rubbed them together to help. They were wet. He looked at the to see what it was.  
Giles jumped back from the table topling the chair over.  
"Hot." said Buffy.

Giles didn't know what to do. Blood was seeping from his hands, but there was no wound. He stood there looking at them.

"There's nothing there!" said Xander realising that this madness must be in Giles, "Whatever you're looking at it's not there. Unless its a cup of tea."

Giles listened to what Xander was saying. It made sense. He closed his eyes tight and mentally told himself again and again that it was alright. The pain disapeared and Giles opened his eyes. His hands were clean and not bleeding. He sighed.  
"If I go like that again, do exactly what you did then." Giles ordered Xander.

"No problem." answered Xander.  
Xander was now even more worried than when that guy had a knife to his throat. His neck was tingling again, but now out of fear of responsibility. Xander realised that it could end up him, on his own, having to kill this demon and he'd have to act more sensibly. But if he did would the madness get him too?  
The sound of a car dropping from space broke Xander's concentration. He, Giles and Buffy ran to the window.  
"Car." said Buffy.

In the middle of the road was an upturned Beetle. The roof had buckled. They all ran outside. Thankfully, there was no one in the car. There was no one in the street either. Xander and Giles looked at the sky wondering where the car had come from, when down fell a tree, roots and all. Most of the tree landed a few metres away, but the leaves where scattered across the street.  
"Snow." said Buffy.

Suddenly it occured to Giles. Willow was a very powerful witch, she just lacked concentration. This was probably her work. They had to get to her straight away and make her stop.

Spike's attention had left the coat and was now concentrated on the line of light underneath the door. He could see the light getting darker and darker. He had to get outside. He had to find a needle.  
The hours seemed to move very slowly and Spike was desperate. His coat had to be fixed. He wasn't cool, calm, evil Spike without his coat. He was just Spike, the cold.

Willow had found the tallest building she could and was using her magic to hurl things across Sunnydale. It was surprising how many people were in the streets, with their umberellas singing "Singing in the rain." There were also a few motionless people in the streets, with umberellas and with that fake Gene Kelly smile across their faces. And a couple up-turned cars with legs. Willow couldn't see any of this she was trying to squash a particular fly, that she had recognised as the one who was buzzing around her room last month. She was sure that she got it that time, but now the town was such a mess. Why didn't anyone care? People are so annoying! They deserve to be taught a lesson.

Giles could see Willow on top of the building. He was about to run to the biulding when he got that sinking feeling. His feet were all sticky and the floor smelt of . . . . . . . . . strawberry?  
"Xander its happening again." said Giles.

"Actually the floor IS turning into starberry Jello." replied Xander.

Buffy sat down in the jelo and started to eat.  
"I see." said Giles, "And is there really a pink bunny flying in the sky?"

"No."

"This is getting worse isn't it?" asked Giles.

"Yes." replied Xander.

Giles didn't really have to ask that question. When he saw the pink rabbit flying he thought it the most sane thing in the world, it was only looking back on the event he realised that it was totally impossible.  
"We'd better move." said Xander.

"Why?" asked Giles.

"This jelo's up to my knees and if we don't move now we won't move at all."

Giles had forgotten about the jelo. It was extremely difficult to walk through. It took them about five minutes to walk half way to the building. Xander got hit in the face by a ball of Jelo. The residence of the area were having a great time getting covered with the sweet gooey slime that was the jelo. Eventually our two heroes made it to the building. The ground floor of the building was also jelo. However the stairs were solid enough. Xander and Giles ran up flight after flight of stairs and eventually reached the top.  
"Willow you've got to stop!" said Xander.

"Why should I?" shouted Willow.

"Because you'll hurt someone!" answered Xander.

"Already have!" said Willow, "Anyway they started it!"

"How could they do that?" asked Giles.

"They made a mess of my town!" said Willow.

"And throwing cars all over the place is tidying up is it?" asked Xander.

"Oh." said Willow, calming down a bit. "Perhaps I did over react a bit."

"Now, you'd better make the floor solid again and put everything back where you found it." said Xander.

"Ok." replied Willow.

As Willow was busily putting everything back to normal, Giles leaned over to Xander.  
"How did you do that?" he asked.

"Perants have to teach you something," replied Xander, "even if it is only how to tell someone off."

Buffy started to cry. She liked strawberry jelo and now it was all gone. AND it was getting very dark and scary.

At last! Now Spike could leave. He grabbed his coat and ran into the street. Right, tonight he won't restrict himself to friends. He would knock on every door until he found a needle.  
Spike went straight up to the first door he could see and knocked.  
"Hello," he said as the door opened, "have you got a needle I can have?" he asked politely.

"Just a minute." said the little old lady who was at the door. She left and a couple of minutes later came back with a TV set.  
"Here you go deary," she said, "don't eat it all at once."

Spike wasn't sure what to think. This old lady must have really bad eyesight and bad hearing. But why on earth was something telling him just to drop the TV and try next door. TVs are expensive and he could make money by selling it. Spike took the TV back to his crypt and carried on with knocking at peoples door.  
He knocked at the house next to the old lady's and the door was opened by a middleaged man. "Here take it!" he shouted as he threw a blender at Spike.  
Spike put the blender with the TV and then carried on down the road.

"Did you see any round things that looked sort of wierd while you were on that roof?" Xander asked Willow.

"Yes." replied Willow, "It was round, flying and on fire!"

"That was the sun, Willow." explained Giles.

"Oh yeah." said Willow in recognition.

"I think we should find out where that guy who tried to kill me lives." said Xander.

"Why?" asked Giles.

"Well he's the first one who went mad to my knowledge." said Xander.

"Good thinking," said Giles, "but how are we going to find him."

Just then the door burst open.  
"I GOT A NEEDLE!"shouted Spike.

"Good for you." said Xander, "We really would love to stay and rejoice in your wonderful discovery, but we've got to go and find the guy who tried to kill me."

"He lives three blocks away." said Spike.

"How do you know that?" asked Giles.

"He gave me a tea set." replied Spike.

"Takes us to him." said Giles.

"I've got to fix my coat!" exclaimed Spike.

"You can fix your coat later," said Xander sternly, "right now we've got to stop everyone from being mad."

"Why should I want that?" asked Spike, "I have a colour TV, a blender, a persian rug, a cuddley toy, a selection of videos, the past three years TV guides and much, much more! If this goes on much longer I could get a holiday for two to Tokyo Japan!"

"Listen to yourself!" said Xander, "What good is a trip to Japan for you! You won't be able to go out during the day and I doubt you'll find anywhere you can get blood from."

"I've still got to sew up my coat." argued Spike.

"You are obsessed with that coat!" shouted Xander, "What kind of weed wears a coat in July anyway?"

"But I like my coat." said Spike.

"You can so it later," said Xander, "come on."

Giles was amazed yet again at Xander's parental attitude. Once again it had saved an awful lot of time. There was only two things worrying Giles now. Firstly, did Spike really know where this man lived or did he just think he did? Secondly, was it safe to leave Buffy and Willow here, alone, acting the way they were?

"Giles!" called Xander, "The door's over here. That's your window."

"Oh yes!" exclaimed Giles. He was really going to feel daft after this! But at least he hadn't painted a green sun on the window, or dropped cars from the air, or even had a phone conversation with a can of paint in his mouth! Perhaps he wasn't as mad as he thought, but then again wasn't that a cream pie walking down the road?

Relief! Spike was right! This is the guy who tried to kill Xander, but he'd forgotten all about that now. He was more worried about what Godzilla was doing to his rose garden. Whatever it was, it was not hygenic or any good for the flowers!

"Can we come in?" asked Giles.

"Hmm?" asked the man. He was a bit preoccupied.

"I'll take that as a yes." said Xander and he stormed into the house.

Giles didn't approve of Xanders behavior, but he had more than compensated for this action earlier.

"Can I go now?" asked Spike.

"Yes." replied Giles.

And Spike skipped down the road. He was so happy. He had a needle, and the time, to sew his favourite coat.

Giles and Xander looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. Boy for a camara right now!

Giles and Xander started rumaging through everything. They searched everywhere. After about an hour, Giles had forgotten what they were actually looking for and had become more interested in what was going on outside. Without a word to Xander he got up and left. Xander didn't notice. He just carried on looking for the sphere.  
Eventually, Xander found something. It was blue, and glowing, and sort of misty on the inside. It what sitting in a box with the post.  
"I think I've found it!" exclaimed Xander.

Giles was just outside the door and had heard what Xander had said. He suddenly remembered what he was supposed to be doing.

"What ever you do don't . . . . . " started Giles as he walked back into the room. But Xander didn't hear the rest. He picked up the sphere and found himself surrounded by mist. It was very noisey. It sounded like everyone in the world all talking at once. Every now and then a part of the mist would glow. It was an eerie sort of glow. It was cold when he was around it and when he touched the glowing mist he shivered.

Giles ran over to Xander.  
"Xander!" he shouted, "Come out of it!"

There was no reaction from the unconscious Xander. He'd been thrown across the room with quite some force and hit the wall as hard as anything, but Giles was sure Xander passed out as soon as he touched the sphere.  
Giles gave him a slap around his face, but it had no efect. More terrifying, Xander was cold.  
Giles checked for a pulse. There was one and Xander was breathing, but he felt like ice. Giles didn't know what to do. He found some blankets as wrapped Xander up in them.  
Then he remembered the sphere. It had to be destroyed as soon as possible.  
Giles picked up Xander and took him back to Giles' house, then he went back for the sphere. However Giles carried the sphere in the box, he wasn't going to end up like Xander.

Xander was begining to get a headache. He tried to concentrate on one of the voices, but it didn't make any sense. Something about a fluffy, purple toaster or something. He wondered around the mist trying to find some thing, but he was certain he was just going around in circles.  
Then there was a different voice. The other voices seemed garbled and hurried. This one spoke slowly and clearly.  
"Your friend is going to kill us." it said calmly.

Xander realised that while the other voices seemed somewhat distant, loud, but far away, this one was here and talking to him.  
"Who are you?" asked Xander.

"You make plans to kill me and don't even know who I am?" said the voice surprised.

"You're the demon." said Xander, almost to himself. "Where are you?"

"Everywhere and nowhere." answered the demon, "You can see me and I can see you, but you can't touch me and I can touch you."  
With that the mist around Xander glowed again and Xander shivered violently.

"Your the mist!" said Xander.

"Indeed," answered the demon, "but so much more than that. I am all states of matter. I can be whatever I want to be. I know all and I can destroy you."

"Then what are you doing stuck in here?" asked Xander, "If I could be anything and knew everything I'd be in a warm place with lots of chocolate."

The mist around Xander solidified for a second and whooshed past his face cutting it.

"You should be worried about your own situation not mine!" shouted the demon.

Xander's mind was wondering.

"How did you do it?" he asked.

"Do what?" asked the demon.

"Make everyone go mad?"

"Stop asking me stupid questions."exclaimed the demon.

"OK." said Xander, "Where is this place?"

"This place is the thoughts of every human in the vacinity." answered the demon, "Here I can control what people think and do just by talking to them."

HA! Xander wasn't expecting that! That idiot of a demon just answered his first question aswell as the second. This gave Xander an idea.

"HEY! BUFFY!" he shouted, "SNAP OUT OF IT! THERE'S A DEMON IN YOUR BRAIN! DON'T LISTEN TO HIM!"

Buffy was getting confused. Did Xander just talk to her? He could have, he's lying motionless on the floor. HE'S LYING MOTIONLESS ON THE FLOOR! And he's bleeding! What on earth had she missed? Nothing. She knew exactly what had happend, but what on earth was going on in her head? It seemed like the cafeteria when there was pizza. Buffy thought about what the voice had said.

"There's a demon in my brain?" she thought out loud.

"Yes." replied Giles.

"Sorry," apologised Buffy, "I lost it a bit back there.  
When did that happen?" she asked, pointing to the cut on Xander's face.

"About two minutes ago," said Giles, "it just appeared."

Hang on a minute. That sounds like normal sane Buffy.

"What knocked him out?" asked Buffy.

"He touched that," said Giles motioning towards the sphere, still in the cardboard box, "There's an insanity demon inside.

"Xander said the demon's in my brain." said Buffy.

"Well he's probably right." answered Giles, "When did he say that?" asked Giles relising exactly what had been said.

"Well, I thought I heard him say it a few seconds ago," answered Buffy, "but he couldn't possibly have said anything."

Giles pondered over this a while.

"It could be possible," said Giles uncertainly, "that Xander has somehow became trapped inside the sphere and has the same abilities to influence thoughts as the demon."

"But he's lying there." said Buffy confused by what Giles had suggested.

"I don't mean his physical body," explained Giles, "I mean his cosncious mind. It's quite probable that Xander is no longer inside his own body, but in the sphere."

"With the demon." finished Buffy, "We've got to get him out."

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" shouted the demon.

"Calling for help." answred Xander.

"This is MY domain and you should not be so foolish as to attempt such tasks."

"Hey!" exclaimed Xander, "She's my friend anf if anyone messes with her mind it should be me!"

"For your insolence you shall die slowly and painfully."

"Thereby giving me more time to escape." pointed out Xander.

"You will never escape."said the demon, "There is no way out of this place."

"Ahhhhhhh," exclaimed Xander, "Someone's been imprisoned, haven't they?"

"I have no problems with it." said the demon.

"Is that why you're wreaking revenge on the town?" asked Xander.

"I am growing tired of this." said the demon, almost to himself.

Xander felt the mist around him getting thicker and more viscous.

"What ARE you doing?" asked Xander.

"Slowly soldifying around you." answered the demon.

"Why?"asked Xander.

"I'm going to crush you."

Xander thought about this for a while.

"Are you sure there's no way out?" asked Xander.

"I've already . . . " started the demon, but then his tone of voice changed,"OF COURSE!"

"There IS a way out?" asked Xander.

"Not for you," replied the demon, "but possibly for me."

"I thought you were imprisoned here." said Xander.

"I was," replied the demon, "but now you're here I may have a chance to escape."

Xander felt the mist around him return to its normal state.

"You've changed your mind about killing me then."said Xander.

"Yes," replied the demon, "but when I've done, you'd might aswell be."

"What are you reading?" asked Buffy, pausing from her pacing around the room.

"I'm trying to find out how to get Xander out and how to kill this demon." answered Giles.

"Why's it so hot in here?" asked Buffy.

"I'm trying to keep Xander warm." replied Giles.

Buffy went over to her friend and put her hand on his head.

"Boy," she exclaimed, "he's not just out cold he's freezing!"

Suddenly, Xander ceased to be a human block of ice and was really burning up. Also, the sphere had turned from ice blue to blood red.

"Giles," said Buffy, "something's happening."

"Hmm" said Giles as he turned around.

It was so hot! Xander began to feel dizzy. He was pretty certain that his vision was blurred, but when all you can see is cloud its little hard to tell. His muscles began to ache, just a little at first, but soon his legs were unable to take the weight of his body. He fell to the floor. He moaned in pain and tried to get up, but every movement made his head spin. Soon even his breathing was forced.

"Giles!" called Buffy, "He's not breathing properly!"

Giles ran over to Xander. They had to do something, but what? The sphere turned green and Xander sat up.

"Xander!" exclaimed Buffy, "Are you all right?"

Xander smiled.

"Fine."

"What happened?" asked Buffy.

"I think I fought him off," replied Xander, "but we'd better destroy the sphere just in case."

Buffy agreed, but Giles wasn't so certain. Something wasn't right. Firstly Willow and Spike were still acting strange, but that could be because the demon is still alive in the sphere. But what really bothered him was the fact Xander wasn't boasting. Normally he would bragg about something as insignificant as cooking lunch, surely he would bragg about defeating a demon all by himself. But he wasn't, he was more preoccupied about destroying the sphere.

"We don't know if destroying the sphere with destroy the demon," said Giles, "it might, just as easily, set the demon free. Then we could all become potential hosts for demonic possesion."

"I see your point," replied Buffy, "but what should we do?"

The demon felt uncomfortable. He hadn't been inside a human body for ages. It was lucky this lad had been posessed before, but now the demon felt itchy. He scratched furiously at his hands  
keeping them hiden. Soon they began to bleed.

"I suggeset we try to return Sunnydale to sanity," replied Giles, "which will involve a lot more research."

"Then we'd better get to it." said Xander. As he stood up he placed his hand on the arm of the chair leaving a hand print in blood.

"Are you sure you're all right?" asked Buffy.

"Yes." replied Xander, "I just want this demon to die. Sooner rather than later."

They all picked up a book each and started to read. As Giles sat down to read he noticed the blood on the chair. This puzzled him for a while, but he soon decided that Xander must have put his hand the the gash on his face and then touched the chair.  
Giles was worried about Xander. He was hiding something. Something had happend to him in the sphere that he didn't want to talk about, but what? Giles had no idea.

Xander was still hurting, but not as bad as before. He stood up and looked around. The blue mist was now green and somehow not the same. It wasn't cold or hot and he felt as if he were alone. Also, the voices were somehow clearer now. He found himself listening for his friends.  
Buffy and Giles seemed back to normal, but they didn't seem to hear his cries now. Willow was totally out of it. She wasn't saying anything. Why did she have to speak? Surely Giles knew she wanted a drink. She was too preoccupied to pay attension to Xander.  
Finally, Xander heard his finally hope. Spike was throwing a tantrum, because his needle wouldn't go through the tough leather of his coat. He was shouting and screaming as loud as he could, but his thoughts did regester Xander's cries for help. As soon as Xander knew this he shouted as loud as he could.

"GO AND TELL GILES THAT I'M INSIDE THE SPHERE!"

Spike wonder where on earth that thought came from. Then he wondered why on earth he was throwing a tantrum because he couldn't fix his coat. All right he probably wasn't going to fix it, but he'd work something out and it wasn't life or death. Then Spike had an idea.

Xander listened to the thoughts of his friends, hoping that Spike would go and tell Giles were he was, but as he listened, he heard a familiar voice. As he listened he realised who it was. The voice was his own, but the thoughts were of the demon. Xander didn't know what to do. No one was listening to him now (as if that where different to normal) and he had to warn his friends. Everything depended on Spike.

"I've got a deal for you." said Spike.

"Has it got anything to do with the current situation?" asked Giles.

"Maybe," replied Spike, "I'm not that sure. It isn't a very good piece of information, but all I want is for you to fix my coat or get someone else to do it."

"How come you're not mad like everyone else?" asked Buffy.

"Get my coat fixed and I'll tell you." bargained Spike.

Buffy wasn't sure if this was a good deal or not, but her curiousity soon got the better of her.

"Go on then."

Spike threw his coat at the slayer and started to speak.

"Well it was bloody weird," started Spike, "one minute I was totally gaga, and then I could swear that Xander told me to tell Giles he was in a sphere, and then I was fine."

"That happend to me," said buffy, "you're information is useless."

"Are you still going to fix my coat?"asked Spike.

"Fix it yourself." said Buffy as she threw the coat back.

Giles, however, was interested with what Spike had to say.

"When was this?" he asked.

"When was what?" asked Spike.

"When Xander spoke to you."

"About ten minutes ago." replied Spike. Just then Spike noticed something.  
"I thought you were stuck in the sphere?" he said to Xander.

"I was," he replied, "but I got out by myself about half an hour ago."

"You only spoke to me ten minutes ago." said Spike sternly.

"You must be mistaken." replied Xander.

Giles wasn't listening to this argument. Just before Spike had came through the door, he had found something quite interesting and what Spike originally said made him wonder. Finally he, made up his mind.

"Grab him!" he shouted.

"Grab who?" asked Buffy.

"Xander!"

Buffy was going to ask why, but Xander had started for the door, so she grabbed hold of him. She was quite surprised when he shook her off. This was not Xander.  
After a small struggle, Buffy managed to hit whatever had possesed Xander over the head with a coffee table.

"How did you know it wasn't Xander?" asked Buffy.

"What Spike said made me think about what I had just read about this particular type of demon,"answered Giles, "which can only posses beings that have already been possesed."

"Are you going to fix my coat now?" asked Spike.

"I'll take it to the taylor's tommorow." replied Giles. "We'd better tie him up before he comes to."

Xander was getting a really bad case of tinitus. All this listening in on to peoples thoughts was giving him a head ache on top of the pain from earlier. He was no longer 100% sure what was going on, but he decided that he couldn't really get into a situation worse than the one he was in right now.

When the demon came too he found himself tied to a chair. His hand were no far itchier than before and, when he scratched them, he found them full of puss. The scrathes had gone septic, so of course his hands were irritating him more. But the more he scratched the less he was coming into contact with the skin and his nails filled more and more with the septic goo that was oozing from his wounds.  
Buffy was getting worried. This scratching was frntic and she was cetain that Xander wouldn't be pleased with the fact that his hands were being scratched to pieces.

Actually, Xander couldn't care less about what was happening to his hands. He was bored stiff. It was a strange experience. All around him was noise, but there was no one to talk to and nothing to do. Soon he found himself, whistling a simple tune. It echoed through the mist. His whistling turned into singing. Not the best singing in the world by any means, but it wasn't totally out of tune. It probably would have sounded a lot better if he wasn't feeling so down in the mouth, or if it wasn't "tell me the way to go home". He sung it over and over again until he began to get bored with the words. Then he made up new verses. Mostly about himself of course. Eventually, even the tune was begining to change.

"How are we going to get Xander back?" asked Buffy.

"It says here," said Giles while reading a book, "that if the demon touches the sphere, it will suck him back in and will provide a doorway for whoever's inside the sphere to jump back out, but" said Giles, changing the tone in his voice, "Xander will only be able to jump out if he knows what we plan to do."

"How are we going to tell him?" asked Buffy.

"If he can hear our thoughts in there, if we concentrate hard enough, he should hear our thoughts and we should hear what he's saying." suggested Giles.

"I'm not that good with the concentration thing." said Buffy.

"If we shout it out loud it should make it easier." said Giles.

So Giles and Buffy started to shout at the top of their voices, but Xander wasn't listening. It was far more fun to sing your own songs and make up your own words. Xander was feeling a bit better singing,

"Oh, Xander is the best person on the face of this earth,  
Everybody loves him and think's he's really cool,  
There's nothing in the world that matches to his worth,  
And why do they wan't back that annoying loser!"

What? Loser doesn't rhyme! It doesn't match the rhythm either. Infact, Xander didn't even think that part up. He realised he'd heard somewhere as he was thinking. He tried to home in on the thought, but there were a couple of voices really shouting. It took a lot of effort to find that voice, but it was no surprise who it was who had thought it.

"Stupid idiots shouting like that," said the voice of Spike, "surely it would be easier just to let him stay in there with the demon than to try and tell him that when the demon touches the sphere he can jump out again. I say leave him there. It will keep him from bugging me!"

What a stroke of luck! No how would he get the message back that he knows? It was obviouse the shouting thing wasn't working. Perhaps if he just spoke to Spike he'd get a message through.

Meanwhile, Buffy and Giles were still shouting.

"For heaven's sake he bloody well knows!" shouted Spike.

"He does?" asked Giles.

"He does what?" asked Spike.

"You just said that Xander knows." said Giles.

"The way you two are shouting the Queen of england knows!" said Spike.

"Concentrate," said Giles sternly, "is Xander talking to you?"

"I'm not doing anything you say!" shouted Spike.

"He knows." said Buffy, " I can hear him. Very quiet, but he's there!"

"Now all we need to do is make the demon touch the sphere." said Giles.

"I have an idea." said Buffy.

Buffy walked over to the demon and untied him. Immeadtiately the demon attacked, but Buffy was very careful not to get to close.

"Over here!" shouted Giles.

The demon turned around to see Giles with the sphere. He was wearing gloves. He threw the sphere towards the demon and, before the demon knew what was going on, he caught the sphere. Xander fell to the floor. The whole experience had made him feel quite dizzy. He hadn't felt it on the way into the sphere, but that was probably because he was leaving his body, not entering it. Now his head spun. As soon as his eyes were able to focus enough to recognise the surroundings he reached out for the thing that he needed most.  
Giles really didn't think that the waste paper basket was the best thing to be sick in. He was certain it didn't do much good for the wicker, but then again, he might have thrown up all over the floor!

"Nice trip?" asked Spike.

Xander just managed a glare before he threw up again.

"Are you . . . . okay?" asked Buffy, careful not to repeat the phrase she used last time.

"Just a little nauseous." said Xander. He was feeling a lot better after his puke-fest. "What happend to my hands?" he asked, wondering if this demon had tried to turn his body into some demon.

"The demon felt uncomfortable inside your body and constantly scratched your hands." replied Giles, using the knowledge he had recently accumulated.

"Their all slimy." stated Xander.

"They're probably infected," said Giles, "I'll get some anticeptic."

While Giles was destroying the sphere (which involved chanting something at it and throwing dust at it) Buffy cleaned up Xander's hands. Xander winced with pain as the anticeptic did it's stuff. Thankfully, his hands were not deply cut. All right, a couple of layers of skin had been scraped off, but what more damage could be done by scratching?  
Finally, Buffy wrapped up his hands in lint. This was just as Giles was finishing disposing of the sphere. Willow looked around confused. She wasn't quite sure what had just happened. She remembered it all clearly, but it seemed so unreal. She looked at her friends. She was glad that she hadn't hurt any of them, but then she noticed something else.

"Buffy?" she said, "It's only seven, why are you still wearing your pjs?"


End file.
